Families are invited to join a free event taking place in Dovercourt this Easter Saturday.

Fairground rides, face painting and other fun activities – including an Easter egg hunt around the town centre, live entertainment and street performers – will feature on the day.

Centred around the Orwell Place car park event space off the High Street, the event – running from 10am to 4pm on Saturday, 30 March – is being organised as part of a national pilot to improve town centres.

The town’s High Street was selected as one of only ten places in the country to be part of the government’s Accelerator Pilot Programme giving powers to those who live and work in town centres to bring about improvements.

Work is led by a forum of local partners – chaired by Paul Milsom, owner of the Pier Hotel in Harwich – and supported by Tendring District Council (TDC).

Mr Milsom, who also chairs the town’s Tourism Group, said: “We are really excited to invite people along to this free Easter event, which will be fun for all of the family.

“There will be lots to see and do, and we hope that as well as being lots of fun it will help people to reconnect with the excellent High Street we have here.

“My thanks go to the huge range of enthusiastic partners involved in putting this event on, and we hope to see lots of people there as we kick-start our work to support long-term our wonderful town centre.”

The Accelerator programme, announced in early December last year, means the High Street Partnership will receive £237,000 to spend by March 2025; £50,000 of this has to be committed by the end of March 2024 to unlock the further funding. Some of this £50,000 is being used to put on the free Easter event.

All shops in the High Street are being offered a £100 grant to decorate their windows for the event, with a competition for the ‘best dressed’ – businesses should email tendring4growth@tendringdc.gov.uk for a copy of the grant form.

Councillor Ivan Henderson, Cabinet Member for Economic Growth, Regeneration and Tourism at TDC – which bid for the pilot – added: “This event gives us the chance to showcase the High Street, and hopefully demonstrate some of the potential interventions this accelerator pilot can deliver.

“Overall the pilot will help to build on the £9million Capital Regeneration Project happening around the wider town centre, helping to build a sustainable town for the future.

“We know there are other fun events happening that weekend around the area, so why not make it a whole day of activities with your entire family.”

Keep up-to-date with details of the event, and other activities in the area, at www.historicharwich.co.uk.

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